Overnight fire in downtown St. Joseph under investigation

Fire inspectors are continuing to look into a fire that destroyed a building in downtown St. Joseph Monday night.

Fire Inspector Robert Blizzard, with the St. Joseph Fire Department said crews arrived on scene in the area of N 13th and Church Streets around 11:37 p.m. Monday to find flames coming from the rear of the building. Blizzard said the building had sat vacant and no utilities were hooked up at the time the fire started. No injuries were reported.

“No one that I know of was inside the building at the time,” Blizzard said. “The fire is under investigation.”

He estimated the building a complete loss of around $35,000. When crews left the scene around three hours after arriving, Blizzard said only the front and half of the north and south side walls of the building were left standing.